Another experimental app from the clever guys at Google Creative Lab, Meter is a live, data-driven wallpaper that shows a visualisation for each of the three basic aspects of your phone or tablet: signal strength, battery life and notifications. Rather than the user being able to select between them manually, Meter automatically cycles to the next visualisation type whenever you unlock the device. The geometric graphics are very simplistic in design, but they can be animated by tilting the phone – for instance, the signal-strength meter is a triangle filled with a coloured fluid that gushes around in a convincing fashion. It’s a shame that there are no customisation options and the latest version even omits the ability to toggle each of the three data types on and off, but as a proof-of-concept Meter is an interesting example.

The first visualisation shows the strength of the Wi-Fi signal in turquoise if the device is connected to a network; if not, then the signal strength is shown instead in orange. There’s no way to choose between the two unless you disable Wi-Fi.

The next time you unlock your phone, Meter will display this graphic that shows the charge level of the device’s battery. The bigger the ball – which moves when you tilt the phone – the more battery you have. It’s also shown as a percentage below the ball graphic.

When you unlock the phone again, Meter will display its third graphic. The number of bars indicates how many notifications you have. Since you can’t tap the graphic to access them, you’ll need to pull down the notifications shade.